The Defining Moment: The Straw That Stirs The Drink Of
Motivational Leadership (Part One)
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Summary: Motivation is a critical aspect of leadership. But most
leaders fail to realize practical processes to motivate people
consistently. Here is a motivational-leadership tool to greatly
increase your leadership effectiveness.
The Defining Moment: The Straw That Stirs The Drink Of
Motivational Leadership (Part One) by Brent Filson
Decades ago, as a rifle platoon commander in the Marines, I saw
leaders who could motivate troops to do extraordinary things --
and leaders who couldn't get the troops to do much at all. I
wondered what was the difference between the successful and
unsuccessful leaders; and if that difference be taught.
Those two questions have stayed with me throughout my civilian
life as I have worked with thousands of leaders worldwide for
the past 21 years.
Now, at last, I can say I've answered those questions. I've
cracked the code.
The difference between successful and unsuccessful leaders is
the successful ones are able to engage in deep, human, emotional
relationships with the people they lead, the unsuccessful ones
don't. It's as simple as that, yet it's more complicated than
you think.
The power of those relationships has been demonstrated since the
dawn of history. In all cultures, whenever people needed to do
great things, one thing had to take place: A leader had to
gather those people together and speak from the heart. In other
words, deep, human, emotional relationships had to be
constituted for great things to be accomplished.
Look at it this way: Leaders themselves must be motivated,
that's an absolute truth. If you're not motivated, you shouldn't
be a leader. But the burning challenges in leadership are, Can
you transfer your motivation to others so they are as motivated
as you? And can you translate that motivation into great
results? Great leaders successfully meet those challenges.
There are three ways to transfer your motivation to others. Give
them information, make sense, and make your experience their
experience.
The most powerful is the latter, having your experience become
their experience. One way to make this happen is with the
"defining moment" technique.
This entails having the leader's experience become the people's
experience. It can be the most effective method of all, because
when the speaker's experience becomes the audience's experience,
a deep sharing of emotions and ideas, a communing, can take
place.
Generally, people learn in two ways